After a year-long wait, the Aaron Rodgers-led New York Jets are a hard watch

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Jets players and coaches often talk about how they can’t resort to finger-pointing, even when things are at their worst — which they are right now.

There was a play late in the fourth quarter on Sunday, a coverage bust that fit perfectly in a season of misery and befuddlement. But that play was set up by a decision made on the other side of the ball a few minutes earlier.

It felt like a game the Jets were going to win. They stole momentum back at the start of the second half, with a takeaway on a forced fumble and then a Breece Hall touchdown a few plays later. They went up 24-16 on a Kenny Yeboah touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter. The Colts cut it to a two-point game, and then Aaron Rodgers worked the offense up the field, killing the clock and getting them to the Colts’ 25-yard-line with 3:30 left. On fourth-and-2, Rodgers went to the line of scrimmage. Jets cornerback D.J. Reed thought they were going to go for it. Instead, Rodgers tried to draw the Colts offsides. It didn’t work, so the Jets called timeout. Anders Carlson converted a 35-yard field goal. Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich considered this a show of confidence in a Jets defense that, many times over the 2022 and ’23 seasons, did its job at the end of games.

“When we saw the field goal team go on we were all happy like: Let’s do what we do,” Reed said. “The last three years, that’s what we did.”

That’s not what they did on Sunday. This is 2024.

On the second play of the drive, Anthony Richardson aired it out for Alec Pierce down the right sideline. Cornerback Sauce Gardner passed the route off to safety Jalen Mills, who was supposed to be in position to prevent Pierce from catching the ball, possibly even intercepting it. Instead, Pierce easily caught it, a 39-yard gain.

At the end of the play, Gardner ran over and pointed at Mills. Literal finger-pointing. Twice.

What a pass by Anthony Richardson! @Colts are threatening 👀

📺: #INDvsNYJ on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/xTTdoEKmMs

— NFL (@NFL) November 17, 2024

“It’s a play that shouldn’t have happened,” Gardner said.

A few plays later, Richardson ran for a 4-yard touchdown. The Colts didn’t convert their two-point conversion but it didn’t matter. The Jets offense, without any timeouts, fumbled on the first snap then killed the clock on second down. Rodgers was sacked on third down and the clock ran out. The Jets, in embarrassing fashion, lost another game they should have won. Final score: 28-27. The Jets’ record: 3-8. The Jets’ season: in the toaster.

“It’s tough to process,” Reed said. “That’s what your play for. You want to play meaningful football in November, December, January … We want to stick together. We have to stick together. The outside world is going to be pointing fingers — and understandably so — but the guys in the locker room, we have to stick together and I feel like we have the right character guys to do that.”

In what has turned into arguably the most disappointing season in Jets history, it is clear that even if the Jets have the right character guys, they don’t have the right guys.

The Jets are at the point of the season when their offense is being booed off the field at their home stadium in the first quarter. The point that, when fans do cheer, it’s typically in a mocking tone — like when, on Sunday, the Jets offense converted its first first down just as the first half was about to end, or when Gardner made an impressive tackle in the second quarter after struggling for weeks to get opponents on the ground.

They were supposed to combine a winning defense with one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks to become a bonafide playoff contender. Instead, since Robert Saleh was fired and replaced by Ulbrich, the defensive coordinator, the defense has looked like one of the NFL’s worst, allowing 26.2 points per game, failing in fundamentals and crumbling in key moments.

“I have noticed that,” Reed said. “The last couple games we haven’t played to our standard on defense. We’ve given up touchdowns, or given up explosive plays. I can’t really account for what it is. Coach Ulbrich does have a lot on his plate but he’s a grown man and he can handle it. I just think it comes down to executing and playing our role. I feel like we’re not executing, no matter what we’re being told to do, we’re just not executing on the field.”

And there’s the Rodgers part of it all. Earlier in the week, he was asked if he still planned on returning in 2025, as he stumbled to the end of the worst season of his career. He responded, tepidly: “Yeah, I think so.”

Sunday’s showing did nothing to make it feel like Rodgers returning to the Jets would be a good thing, for team or player. The 40-year-old didn’t even surpass 100 passing yards until the third quarter. He’s looked unwilling (or unable) to throw the ball down the field, and his excuses for that — last week he said the offensive line needs to block for longer, Sunday he blamed his lack of deep throws on the Colts playing a two-high defense — aren’t quite up to snuff.

Over the last two weeks, Rodgers is 1 of 6 on passes thrown more than 10 yards downfield, the one completion coming on a nice sideline throw to Xavier Gipson in Sunday’s fourth quarter. Those moments have been few and far between, and the Jets offense has somehow become less explosive since trading for Davante Adams. Rodgers finished Sunday with 184 yards on 29 pass attempts.

Ulbrich was asked if Rodgers’ reticence is holding the Jets offense back. He deflected in his response.

“We’ll take a hard look at the tape,” Ulbrich said. “There’s an element to, of course, injury is going to hamper anybody in these types of situations, but it never comes down to one man. It comes down to protection, receivers, running backs, the running game, all those things. So, I know Aaron would love to be playing better, but it’s not just him, it’s all of us.”

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Rodgers simply doesn’t look like Rodgers anymore, even if no one around the Jets organization wants to admit it publicly.

“Yeah, I mean, it wasn’t my best performance,” Rodgers said. “I felt like I did a few good things, but unfortunately in this game sometimes you have to make a decision and pick a side and sometimes you pick the right side and sometimes you pick the wrong side … It’s just one of those weird things. Sometimes you pick the right side and get lucky and sometimes you don’t and you have to look at the damn tablet and see a guy was open.”

He was asked about that sort of struggle being something he hadn’t dealt with before — he pushed back at the assertion.

“It happens all the time,” Rodgers said. “It does happen all the time, but sometimes you just pick it right and you get on a roll and seem to pick it right all the time. Sometimes it’s a hunch. I’m going through progressions. Sometimes in those two situations I would’ve had to have skipped over a progression and just trust the guy as being open. Sometimes that hits, sometimes you wish you would have just stayed with the progression. It’s the beauty and the frustration of the game.”

The Jets are 3-8. Their playoff hopes, if there are any, range from one to four percent, depending on your source. There is plenty to be frustrated about. And none of it is pretty.

“It’s very hard to fathom,” Reed said. “I’m still processing it right now.”

(Top photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)